LONDON, Oct 12 Shares fell worldwide towards
three-week lows on Wednesday after a dour start to the U.S.
earnings season, while Britain's battered currency rose for the
first time in five days.

Sterling rose more than 1 percent against the dollar and
euro after British Prime Minister Theresa May
offered to allow lawmakers some scrutiny of the process of
leaving the European Union, although she ruled out a vote in
parliament on whether to trigger the formal Brexit procedure
.

The pound has taken a beating, tumbling to 31-year lows last
week, on fears that Britain is heading for a "hard Brexit" that
would see it leave the EU single market when it quits the bloc.

Expectations that U.S. interest rates will rise in December
remained in focus with the minutes of the Federal Reserve's
September meeting due for release later in the day.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a
basket of six major currencies, hit a seven-month high of 97.817
, its highest since early March.

Sweden's Ericsson led the region's technology
stocks to a one month-low, after the company warned that a
downturn in its mobile broadband business had accelerated and
its third-quarter profit would be "significantly lower" than
expected. Its shares slumped more than 15 percent.

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FED MINUTES

With focus turning to the release of the Fed's latest
minutes and prospects for a December rate rise, the 10-year U.S.
Treasury yield rose to 1.787 percent, its highest
since June.

The euro fell to an 11-week low of around $1.1010 against a
firmer dollar. The dollar also gained against the yen
.

Investors are increasingly convinced the Fed will raise
interest rates in December, after avoiding an increase at its
next meeting, scheduled for less than a week before the U.S.
presidential election.

U.S. interest rate futures <0#FF:> are pricing in about a 75
percent chance rates will rise by December, little changed over
the past couple of days.

"Current sentiment is such that markets will look at the
minutes for a reason not to expect a rate hike in December,"
Hermes group chief economist Neil Williams said.

Elsewhere, oil prices rose, drawing support from record
Indian crude imports and upcoming talks between OPEC producers
and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the
global market. Brent crude futures were up 26 cents at
$52.67 a barrel.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo and Anirban Nag
in London; Editing by Larry King)

Next In Oil report

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 The U.S. derivatives regulator
will move on from reforms undertaken after the 2007-09 financial
crisis to a new focus on U.S. competitiveness and the potential
for shocks to the global $710 trillion swaps markets under
President-elect Donald Trump.

TORONTO, Dec 9 Canada's main stock index
extended a 19-month high on Friday and was heading for a 1.8
percent jump over the week as heavyweight energy and bank stocks
gained with rising oil prices and bond yields.

LONDON, Dec 9 Angola does not need to devalue
its currency at the moment but will work on measures to lessen
the gap between the formal and informal exchange rates, central
bank governor Valter Filipe da Silva told Reuters.

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